The Slave, the Prince and the Angel
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: [AU] There is a hierarchy of power even in a fantasy world, and as a slave and human Severus was doubly damned when he fell in love with an angel called Lily. His one small comfort was that she had no interest in Prince James either...
1. Liar

**A/N: **Written for the Monthly Het-tastic Drabble-Athlon Competition. Prompt 1 – liar.

* * *

**The Slave, the Prince and the Angel  
1: Liar**

It had been written long ago that a slave could only look – _really_ look – upon their own kind, but for a slave to say their eyes had never strayed would be a lie. Their hair was always long and unkempt, straggly bangs falling over their eyes and masking any brief transgression they partook in – and for many of them, it was a guilty pleasure to be able to look upon the noblemen and noblewomen and dream.

And, for those who had been bred from birth in slavehood, those dreams were enough for them – but those abandoned to the world: those marketed on the streets and then sold, those like _Severus_ – they could not help but feel bitterness and resentment in such a transgression, and so there was no worth in it. Still, they partook in that transgression and lifted their eyes: if they did not peer at the noblemen and noblewomen they peered at the palace, and the mountains, and the skies.

Sometimes, Severus thought he saw an angel where the heavens touched the earth on the mountain's peak, and those days his eyes strayed evermore.


	2. Maid

**A/N: **Written for the Monthly Het-tastic Drabble-Athlon Competition. Prompt 2 – maid.

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**The Slave, the Prince and the Angel  
2: Maid**

As a prince, James could never be in want, and yet all the wealth and provisions in the world could leave one unsatisfied in heart. He had many a pretty woman at his feet: woman bred for the single purpose of entertaining him in his private wing. And yet while his earthly needs were always taken care of by them – these woman who were of higher status than slaves and common-folk but denied the noble name – his heart was still desiring.

When he saw the beautifully flaming hair shimmering in a veil of mist he was enthralled, and he wished he was a free child instead of a prince bound by duties and laws and royalty, so he could dash up to the mountain peak himself and greet the angel that stood in it.

But she could not, and once he had seen the angel there was no woman on earth who could appease him.


	3. Love

**A/N: **Written for the Monthly Het-tastic Drabble-Athlon Competition. Prompt 3 – love.

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**The Slave, the Prince and the Angel  
3: Love**

Lily did not often come to earth, but when it did it was to drink the cool mist of the high mountains and nothing else. If she happened to look upon the tiny little humans far off, then it was a sedation of her mild curiosity and nothing more.

Often, those trips were short and sweet and nothing came off it, save her being drunk off the grey mountain mist – still tainted as far as heaven's purity went, but tantalising in a way purity could never be.

But one day, when the mist was a little thinner and her hunger a little less, she saw through the mist and saw a man – no, two men, in different places, different states – watching her.

And she knew the look they wore, and it unsettled her.

She was not overfilled but shallow and unsettled when she returned.

Angels knew lust, but to them love was only a human's foolish dream they wore as the mask.


	4. Angel

**A/N: **Written for the Monthly Het-tastic Drabble-Athlon Competition. Prompt 4 – angel.

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**The Slave, the Prince and the Angel  
4: Angel**

Angels came and went with the mist: this Severus knew, and yet he could not help but look to the mountains as the sun bathed their peaks a golden glow. There was no flaming head of hair though, no fire that shone like a beacon of hope from that mountain peak.

Still, he found his gaze sneaking up far more often than most, until not even his straggly bangs could hide his stealing looks, and a heavy whip cracked down upon his back. The stinging welts brought him back to earth somewhat and he renewed his interest in his work.

That afternoon though, the mountaintop became covered in mist again and his attention was drawn to the beautiful flame at its peak, and he knew, he _knew_, that there would be no eternal rest from him after that.

He was a new slave, not one bred for servitude, and as such he knew well the lore of the noble-folk. He knew that angels knew nothing about their concept of love, and a human's lust was something both curious and disgusting to them – but how could one lust after a beacon of hope on a mountaintop? A beacon whose very shape and form were hidden by the mist?

But then again, how could he, a bitter and worthless slave, fall in love?


	5. Shadow

**A/N: **Written for the Monthly Het-tastic Drabble-Athlon Competition. Prompt 5 – shadow.

* * *

**The Slave, the Prince and the Angel  
5: Shadow**

His duty as the prince was to marry for his country and his crown, and yet every woman that was offered to him was unsavoury. Unsatisfactory. He yearned for something more.

His father could not be more surprised. 'Have you lost your mind?' he cried, when he rejected the hand of _Beauxbatons'_ Sovereign Queen. 'She is worth more than the Goddess herself!'

But she was not worth the angel he had laid teasing eyes upon and who now haunted his dreams. It was his folly, he knew. His flaw. It rare an angel would walk down from the mountains into their clouted and dust-filled world, but it was not unheard of. And his dream was now too full of colour and form for him to be able to cast into the shadows once more, and once he had seen the apples in Eden the fruit of the earth was nowhere near as appetising.

His father just shook his head at his fantasies, muttering about foolish fantasies and delusions. After all, few had the fortune – or misfortune – of seeing an angel in their lifetimes.


End file.
